An ongoing demand exists for action toys having novel features. It is of course important that any such toy be effective in its appearance and operation, while also being durable and relatively facile and inexpensive to manufacture. The prior art discloses numerous forms of action toys in which various parts can be moved in different ways, and which achieve a wide diversity of effects; typical are the following U.S. patents:
Adamson U.S. Pat. No. 1,101,048 shows a toy snake drawn by a string along an undulating wire.
In Sobel U.S. Pat. No. 3,353,823, a string is ejected by squeezing a bottle or a frog-like body, to simulate squirting liquid or tongue movement, respectively; in the latter case, the string may have a loop formed at its end to engage an object.
A similar squeeze toy is shown in Powell U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,676; the string may be attached to a plug, to facilitate return into the body of the toy, and it may have a magnet on its free end for "catching" objects.
Ulrich U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,327 provides a game device wherein manipulation of a tail portion of the figure causes its neck to curve upwardly and rearwardly.
Application for U.S. Letters Pat. Ser. No. 06/703,333, entitled CORD-CLIMBING CREATURE, filed in the name of Francis R. Amici on Feb. 20, 1985 (now U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,586) and of common assignment herewith, discloses a simulated creature having a winch assembly in its body with portions of different diameters. Lengths of a string-like member extend about both portions of the winch assembly and out the front and rear of the body; under the force of gravity, the string-like member winds more rapidly about the smaller diameter winch portion, causing the creature to "climb" the forwardly extending length of string.
It is believed that Playskool Company has used a tumbler arrangement in a toy clock for the purpose of preventing overwinding of the power spring. The spring could be wound through a limited number of revolutions, after which a stop element would prevent further rotation; release would simultaneously drive the clock mechanism and reset the tumblers.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel toy having a manually extensible and retractable element.
It is a more specific object of the invention to provide such a toy wherein retraction of the extensible element is effected by extending a second element.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a toy in form of a creature figure, wherein the first extensible element extends from a head portion of the figure and the second extensible element extends in the opposite direction from a tail portion thereof.
A related object is to provide such a creature figure toy wherein the element that extends from the head portion simulates a tongue and is attached to the retraction mechanism by a string which cooperates with the tongue component to form a trap for capturing objects.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a toy having the foregoing features and advantages, which utilizes a unique spool assembly for multiplying the effect of the retraction element.
Additional objects of the invention are to provide such a toy which is effective in its appearance and utility, is durable, and is relative facile and inexpensive to manufacture.